Complaints about blogs

09/17/2008

I do not read a lot of blogs, not even a lot of columns, but of what little I have read, the following things bother me.

Note that BA refers to Blog Author.

The obsessive need to be relevant and comment, often in an obvious way, on something which is inane and of little importance. And the commenters to such blogs follow suit. Instead of saying “big deal” they join the BA in a rant about how “fascinating” something is. We get it, Obama and McCain said something “awful.” “Awful” these days is can mean just about anything. Hyperbole is not dead.

Blogs that look like fancy link dumps. If I want to go to TPM or TownHall, I will. I can find them, and find it tiring if a blog mainly exists to highlight posts from these sites, with a sentence or two about them from the BA.

Yes, other’s work can be interesting, but if a blog mainly exists to post their work verbatim, why call it a blog? If the blog format is more convenient, I understand, but a disclaimer would be nice. The BA could just title his “blog” “Articles I Like.”

BAs that encourage activity but give little respect to their readers. So I read your blog and you ignore me? Yes, because I am so interesting, and you are lucky if I don’t uninvite you to read my blog, you little worm! Of course. But that goes to a bigger issue and a long held belief of mine: BAs should never give people false impressions about the amount of attention they’re committed to giving them.